From 1,300 nominations and 33
recruiters in the competition, only seven people received U.S. Army Recruiting
Command’s first-ever Master Recruiter Badge in September. Master Sgt. Donald
Gallagher was one of them.

“When I joined the Reserves, I
joined with the intent of becoming a recruiter,” he said. “I like helping
people. I like talking to people and helping young men and women discover what
they want to do in life and how the Army’s going to help them with that.”

Gallagher’s interest in being a
recruiter started with friends talking about their own experiences in the field.
It seemed to him like a very fulfilling assignment.

“Just through talking to them, and
seeing their enjoyment within recruiting, I decided that’s what I wanted to
do,” Gallagher said.

Before becoming a recruiter, he was
an active-duty 14 Juliet, Air Defense C4I Operator Maintainer from October 1996
to August 2006. After a break in
service, Gallagher joined the Army Reserve in January 2008. Eight months later, he submitted a packet for AGR to become a 79
Romeo.

“It was a big leap going from a
combat arms MOS to a noncombat arms support-type position,” Gallagher said.

His first recruiting assignment was
in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

“When I first got into recruiting,
I found that it was very fast paced and you had to really work hard,” Gallagher
said. “Your work ethic was pushed. The harder you work, the more success you
see.”

After two years, Gallagher spent nearly
a year and a half as a center leader in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. He then went
to Indianapolis and took over as first sergeant for the Indianapolis Metro
South Recruiting Company. Gallagher came to Fort Knox to work at the Recruiting
and Retention School this past September.

“He’s a great person,” said Capt.
Larry Lowrance, Indianapolis Metro South company commander, of his former first
sergeant. “He has a strong knowledge base, great research abilities and
excellent leader development skills.”

Recruiting is both an art and a
science, Gallagher believes.

“The art is your ability to
interact with individuals,” he said, “your ability to talk to people, to
counsel people, to read their body language, and really get to know them and
understand their goals and aspirations and how the Army will help.

“The science is what tells you how
to put yourself in the position to be at the right place at the right time.”

Serving as a recruiter is a great
career progression move that strengthens many essential skills, Gallagher said.

“I truly believe that when a
noncommissioned officer comes into recruiting duty and when they leave, they’ve
made immense leaps in their ability to coach, teach, mentor and council
individuals,” he said. “Recruiting also teaches you how to manage your time properly.
You develop great time management skills, you develop administrative skills,
and you’re also going to develop leadership skills.”

Gallagher said recruiting is a
broadening assignment that gives Soldiers a bit of a break from their regular
MOSs.“I would just tell anybody that’s potentially
looking at coming into recruiting that if they want a challenging assignment
that offers great career progression and is going to help them become a better
noncommissioned officer, that they should really look at coming into Recruiting
Command,” he said. “The command has made great strides forward in ensuring that
our noncommissioned officers receive the best training, are given the best
tools, and are taken care of every day.” Lowrance said Gallagher instilled a
“will to win” attitude in the Indianapolis Metro South Soldiers.“I think he did a good job of
taking care of the Soldiers here,” Lowrance said. “They wanted to be here. They
wanted to work, they wanted to win. That attitude to win, that attitude to be
hungry, is still here.”Even though recruiters frequently
hear ‘no’ from prospects, it’s important to keep working, Gallagher said. “Keep putting your nose to the
pavement every day; get out there and you’ll be successful,” he said. “Eventually
it will pay off for you.”